Both houses of parliament unanimously vow action against rumour mongers

New Delhi, Aug 17: Both houses of Parliament, led by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, today in a rare sense of unanimity vowed to take stringent action against unknown rumour mongers who conspired a sudden exodus of Northeast students from Bangalore, Chennai, Kerala and Pune.

The Prime Minister told the Rajya Sabha, "rumour mongers should be brought to book, and I will be in touch with the chief ministers to ensure safety for the people from Northeast.

"We will work together to give the people of Northeast a feeling of security by effectively controlling all elements who are out to create trouble.

Dr Singh said, this country belongs to them (people of Northeast) as it belongs to the rest of India, and we must thwart any attempt to disturb national unity.

The Prime Minister congratulated all sections of the House in showing unanimity over the sensitive issue. "Whatever happened in Kokrajhar should not be used to fan rumours and create tension in other parts of the country", he added.

In the Lok Sabha, leader of opposition Sushma Swaraj said she had only two demands: one, Police protection should be provided to Northeast students working in shopping malls and staying in hostels and helpline numbers should be given to them, and two, the House should unanimously give out the message that the whole of India stands behind the people of Northeast.

Samajwadi Party leader Reoti Raman Singh demanded that rumour mongers be nabbed under the National Security Act, while BSP leader Dara Singh Chauhan demanded that the conspirators be exposed.

Janata Dal-United leader Sharad Yadav demanded stringent action against rumour mongers who conspired the exodus of Northeast people from the South. DMK leader T K Elangovan said it was a shame for the people of the South, known for welcoming people from all communities.

In the Rajya Sabha, leader of the opposition Arun Jaitley said, the present objective was to ensure that rumour mongering comes to and end and the exodus is stopped immediately.

Jaitley said, it was really emotional to see the genteel students from the Northeast sitting in trains as part of exodus, and yet wanting to deny that they were being intimidated.

In the Lok Sabha, the Prime Minister described as “reprehensible” the growing sense of insecurity among people from the North East living in other parts of the country and promised that his government is committed to take all steps to control the situation.

Singh condemned all such incidents during a debate in the Lok Sabha on the violence in Kokrajhar, as also in Mumbai and other parts of the country against people from the North East.

“The growing sense of insecurity among the people from the North East fleeing different part of the country is something most reprehensible,” he said.

Singh promised that he commits his government to work with all “like-minded” people to work together to bring the situation under control without any loss of time.

He emphasised that people from the North East had “as much right” as anybody else to study and work in any part of the country.

Singh urged the people to maintain unity and integrity of the country. The people are one and “we will do everything to provide them security,” he said.

The Prime Minister said security was an obligation for his government and it will provide this to the best of its ability.

“We should send a clear message that we will do everything to provide security to people from North East living in various parts of the country,” he said.